5 Things To Know About Kim Jones’ Dior Debut

On March 23, Kim Jones presented his debut collection at Dior in the Garde Républicaine, set against the backdrop of a 10-metre-tall flower-covered KAWS sculpture. Olivia Singer outlines the key points from his first show.

It would have been all too easy for Kim Jones to slip into luxury streetwear territory for his Dior debut – after all, its trending elsewhere and he understands that domain better than any other designer. But instead, this collection was decidedly romantic: all blushing pastels and pretty florals; gentle-cut tailoring and exquisitely ornate detail. That’s not to say it eschewed modern masculinity – suiting was expertly and gently cut (those oblique jackets!), and there were plenty of brilliant trainers – but that it signified a distinct new chapter for Jones: one which explicitly revels in the language of Dior.

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Couture Was Abundant

Menswear does not often offer a playground for couture – but Dior is a couture house, with working ateliers, a storied history of craft and ample resources to facilitate its execution. Jones made full use of it all: feathered flowers by Lemarié pressed beneath a glaze of transparent vinyl; traditional fil de coupe layering techniques that switched out gauze for nylon; one young couturier, Janaina Milheiro, hand-applying feathers to seamlessly integrate them with mesh. That phenomenal beaded shirt comprised six panels, and each took four people a week to create. It was breathtaking. This is the third collection this week to celebrate the savoir-faire of couture ateliers (Raf Simons paid tribute through his duchesse tailoring; John Galliano employed them for Maison Margiela) and, amidst a sea of printed T-shirts, it is refreshing to see menswear explored in such an intricate fashion.

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Christian Dior Offered Direct Inspiration

Monsieur Dior ought have been blushing. There were florals that took their inspiration from his personal porcelain; a toile de jouy once used as the wallpaper for his first boutique; the presence of Bobby, his dog (or, series of dogs: when Bobby died, he’d be replaced by an identical puppy). From the foundations to the finishes, he was omnipresent – and, by Jones’ hand, his idiosyncrasies achieved a contemporary bent. You’d never guess that the silken shirting printed with near-luminous botanicals originated in mid-century Paris, or that the nylon jacquard found first inspiration in a shop wallpaper – but this was 1947 through the lens of 2018: legacy revived for a new generation.

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It Was A Community Effort

John Galliano famously bought half of Kim Jones’ graduate collection; in turn, for his debut at the house Galliano once helmed, Jones reinterpreted his iconic saddlebag as a menswear accessory (it was plainly brilliant, and will have plenty of female fans, too). Yoon Ahn, the founder of Ambush, was enlisted to create the jewellery: CD earrings and necklaces were particularly good; phone cases decorated with graphic lettering will surely appear everywhere. Matthew Williams of Alyx was commissioned to work on the CD belt buckles: Jones simply said he designs them better than anyone else, so wanted him on board. Stephen Jones, a long-time Dior milliner, created the headwear. One of Kim’s remarkable qualities is his vocal support of his creative family (this season at shows from Edward Crutchley to Virgil Abloh), and here that community spirit extended well into the collection – to very appealing ends.

And KAWS Was Everywhere

Jones has long been a fan of artistic partnerships, and for this debut he commissioned American artist KAWS to reinterpet the iconic bee emblem of the house. Printed onto fabrics; composed from cabuchons; dangling from hangbags, this was a modern vision for the historic house. For anyone who didn’t look at their Instagram feed yesterday, the runway circled a 10-metre-tall KAWS effigy of Monsieur Dior comprising 70,000 flowers. It embodied the collection entirely: an homme fleur extravaganza.